Nov. 24 -
California developers who have salivated over the expanding workforce in Broomfield will start construction there in January on a retail and hotel complex nearly half the size of the Park Meadows mall.

The proposed 70-acre development - known as Flatiron Marketplace - fronts U.S. 36 and is across 96th Street from the FlatIron Crossing mall, which is under construction.

Koll Development Co.'s Flatiron Marketplace will include 684,371 square feet of retail, restaurants and hotels - as many as 450 rooms - in the first phase. Concerned about traffic and sprawl problems at other developments, Marketplace planners envision a network of shuttle buses that will greatly reduce the need for cars.

Large tenants that have signed letters of intent include a Nordstrom Rack, Linens 'N Things, Best Buy, The Great Indoors and several other home-furnishing stores, clothing stores and an office-supply store. Nordstrom Rack, which sells clearance items, will accompany the Nordstrom that will be an anchor of FlatIron Crossing.

The proposed development is one of several planned near the FlatIron Crossing mall, which is being built to take advantage of the growth in jobs and residents in the northwestern part of the metropolitan area in recent years. When completed in August 2000, the new mall will be comparable in size to Park Meadows, which is roughly 1.5 million square feet.

In the middle of the frenzy is Broomfield's Interlocken business park, which has attracted thousands of jobs with such companies as Sun Microsystems and Level 3 Communications.

"There has been very strong job growth,'' said Greg Mickelson, vice president of retail for Koll, based in Newport Beach, Calif. "You're going to find residential that follows it and demand for additional service.''

City officials say Flatiron Marketplace will generate more than $3 million annually in sales-tax revenues. That's a significant increase for a city that now brings in about $8 million, said Charles Ozaki, Broomfield assistant city manager.

The property is zoned for 1.5 million square feet of development, but Koll officials expect to build less than 1 million. Koll's site plans are going through city approval.

"We've been working very closely with the developer to create a high-quality retail environment that will be long lasting and flexible,'' Ozaki said. "The front door to the FlatIron Crossing mall shopping district is through Koll's project.''

The project includes a complex transportation plan that will encourage people to get to the site without their cars. "We are creating an alternative to the suburban, congested, mixed-use development,'' Tom Thorpe, an architect who worked on the transit plan, has said.

Koll's development will include an RTD station, which also will be the launch for shuttles that go between the retail projects - FlatIron Crossing, Flatiron Marketplace and Main Street at Flatiron, a 40-acre retail development planned by The MidCities Co.

Koll bought the final piece for its development in July and at the time announced it planned 360,000 square feet of entertainment and retail and three hotels. Plans changed to include even more retail, said Carter Ewing, who runs Koll's Denver office.

He might expand the plans to include office with the hotels, Ewing said.

Leading the marketing effort for the mall is Allen Lampert, vice president and director of CB Richard Ellis, a real-estate brokerage firm with offices in Denver.

"What drew me to the area was the success of Interlocken, but what attracted us to this particular opportunity would be the mall, which was really solidified when Nordstrom announced they were going forward with that store,'' Ewing said.

Westcor Inc. of Phoenix, which is building FlatIron Crossing, has also signed Dillard's, Foley's, Lord & Taylor, Crate and Barrel and Eddie Bauer. The developer also is pursuing Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.

"Denver today is on every retailer's radar screen either for consideration of new stores or additional stores,'' Mickelson said.

Copyright 1999 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.